Stephen Colbert reviews this week's rare displays of Senate spine

Stephen Colbert devoted much of his Friday monologue to cataloging the flashes of Senate spine we've seen over the last week.

Several, including Democrat Dick Durbin of Illinois and Republicans Lindsay Graham of South Carolina and Chuck Grassley of Iowa, have demonstrated they have the back of their former Senate colleague, Jeff Sessions, who has been getting an "executive swirlie" from his president, who hopes he'll resign so he can appoint a replacement willing to fire special counsel Robert Mueller. (That includes potentially keeping the Senate formally in session through August to thwart any end-run attempts by Trump to do it via recess appointment.)

The most colorful quote came from Graham, who vowed there would be no confirmation hearing for a new attorney general in 2017 and "if Jeff Sessions is fired, there will be holy hell to pay."

Now, granted, no one can hold a candle to Jon Stewart's Lindsay Graham impression, but the South Carolina-bred Colbert is the next best thing.

"Holy hell!" he drawled. "I do declare, and if you persist, I will whip you with my fiddlesticks!"

See, there's not a lot Trump can do to her personally since she's not up for re-election until 2022. So, instead, he went after her whole state.

He sicced Interior Secretary "and guy who wants to get you in a used pickup truck today" Ryan Zinke on her to deliver the message that by voting no, she had jeopardized her state's future with the administration.

First, Colbert noted how Trump should consider how much he actually has in common with the 49th state and adjust his approach. After all, "he got his start on reality shows, just like every citizen of Alaska did."

He then bottom-lined the situation for his audience: "This administration is like organized crime except for the organized part. It's not very Goodfellas."